Bylaws

Band Council Bylaws

How Discussions are Structured:

Constitution Statement: The chair will read the relevant statements from the constitution. These statements will include the responsibilities of the office as set forth in the constitution and election procedures.

Officer Statements: The current office holder(s) will have an opportunity to express their view of the office and what it entails. The current office holder should not mention candidates for the office during this statement. There will be 2 minutes per current officer.

Modified Round Table: Each councilor will have an opportunity to express his or her feeling on all of the candidates for the office in question. Each councilor will have 1 minute. The round table will start with the person to the left of the current office holder, or the current office holder themselves if they choose to speak first. As part of their 1 minute, councilors may ask a direct question of one other councilor if desired. If their chair rules that the question is appropriate and has not already been answered, the questioned councilor will be given 30 seconds to respond. Band councilors should not feel they must use all of their time if they have no need.

Advocacy Statements: There will be an opportunity for each candidate to have an advocate, a councilor or councilors who can express why that candidate deserves the office, by reading a statement or statements provided by a noncouncilor. There will be 2 minutes per candidate. Statements will proceed in alphabetical order. This takes place during Round Table, before the outgoing officer has their turn (or, at the end of the Round Table, if the officer chooses not to go last).

Open Discussion: Any councilor who so desires will have an opportunity to discuss all of the candidates. Councilors must limit their statements to 1 minute so all councilors can have a chance to express their feelings. Councilors may go beyond 1 minute if agreed upon by the majority of band council. Councilors must be recognized by the chair before speaking. Councilors may choose to defer their discussion opportunity to allow for a more continuous flow of discussion. The open discussion period will be limited to 15 minutes. Following the open discussion period, councilors may move to repeat the Round Table with each councilor having 1 minute each or move to repeat the Open Discussion limited to 10 minutes. The motion must have a second and must pass by a majority vote to go into effect.

Voting: Voting will be closed ballot. Votes will be counted after each vote. The results will be disclosed sometime before Band Banquet, at the discretion of the chair. Single winner elections will use an instant runoff system (meaning all candidates should be ranked on the ballot), and multiple winner elections will use at large voting (meaning councilors give a number of votes of equal weight, where the number is equal to the number of winners. Councilors will also rank all the candidates: this ranking will be used only in the event of a tie).